The Loop
by The Keyboard
Summary: Captain Stone sets of in pursuit of an old friend who has gone rogue, but finds out that there is far more at stake than first thought. This is my fic, reviews would be very welcome :D
1. Chapter 1

**San Francisco, Earth**

The towers stretched more than 20 kilometres into the air, covering the planet with a layer of alloys, transparent aluminium and forcefields. Most of the multitrillion-strong population of the planet lived in these towers, and hardly set foot on actual soil. These towers were obscured by sophisticated holograms, giving the impression that there was hardly any habitation on the planet. The only people who had reason to set foot on the ground were those who desired to see the historical cities that were well-preserved on the planet's surface, or those on federal or Starfleet business. As it happened, Captain Edward Stone was one of these people.

Captain Stone transported himself just outside the 200 year old compound, appreciating the lush greenery surrounding it. After numerous transporter-related terrorist incidents, most sensitive facilities had installed local-level transporter inhibitors that were active at all times, in support of defensive shields that were only activated in emergency situations. The captain always wondered why Starfleet Command adamantly insisted to use such an archaic facility as their headquarters, when most of Starfleet Academy had already shifted to the towers a long time ago. Still, he couldn't complain, as it was always refreshing for him, who was usually surrounded by high technology, to be in such a quaint environment.

Despite its humble exterior, the compound's interior was most certainly not. Most it had been converted into a massive holodeck in the late 2340s, which allowed it to accommodate tens of thousands of people with ease. As the captain stepped into the main building, the compound's computer isolated him in a little pocket of space that provided him with tactile, visual and audio input/output, allowing him to interact with fellow occupants of the building, who were likewise in their own pockets of space.

It was within this simulated environment that he stepped into the Operations Room. A cavernous space 3 kilometres in length, 2 kilometres in width and 10 kilometres in height (there were clouds near the ceiling of the room), it could fit _2075_ galaxy class starships end-to-end within it, if it were real. Simulated sunlight filtered through the clouds onto the floor below, and patches of well-groomed greenery dotted the floor. _The Admiralty sure loves its plants,_ he thought.

A human who looked about 200 years old approached him. "Welcome to Starfleet Command, Captain Stone! It's been a long time since you've come here," the man smiled affably, and extended his hand.

"It's good to see you again, Admiral Ramesh. You look as young as ever," Captain Stone returned the handshake warmly.

"Oh, don't remind me of my age! I feel ancient enough already," the Admiral replied, a twinkle in his eyes. "Jokes aside, the Admiralty have been waiting. Please, follow me."

Captain Stone was led to a monolithic tower in the middle of the room. As he rode the lift up the 200-metre tall building, he scrutinised the professionally landscaped environment below through the transparent wall of the lift. _The view is pretty good from here,_ he admitted grudgingly. At the top floor of the room, group of admirals clustered around a holographic projection greeted his sight. This was extremely abnormal; admirals were rarely seen with one another. _And there are at least 30 admirals here,_ he thought in surprise. The admirals had apparently been engaged in intense discussion before his arrival, but froze the moment his presence was registered. One admiral, a Fleet Admiral in fact, stepped out to address Captain Stone.

"Thank you for arriving here so promptly in spite of our sudden request. I'm sure you have a lot of questions, but first, please take a seat," the elderly Vulcan said as she waved his arm at a holographic chair. Captain Stone settled into the tall-backed chair, which quickly adjusted itself to conform to his body profile.

"Three hours ago, a Nebula class starship belonging to Starfleet left the sector block that it was assigned to, and began to travel on a trajectory that would take it beyond the Federation's borders in 1 day, 6 hours and 33 minutes, if its current velocity is maintained. Attempts to contact it have thus far failed," the Admiral stated with characteristic Vulcan precision as she zoomed in on a red dot on the holographic display in the middle of the room. "We believe the actions of this ship to have a high chance of becoming a destabilising factor in the quadrant. Numerous prewarp civilisations exist beyond the borders of the Federation, in addition to minor interstellar powers. As we know, a starship produces as much power as a mid-tier Type III civilisation on the human Kardeshev scale. If the technologies within that starship are procured by a less technically advanced civilisation, the politics within that region would be greatly altered. Numerous other situations of equal, if not greater, severity could be also be created. As can be seen, the ramifications are severe," she zoomed in even further, and the starship's registry was revealed for the first time to Captain Stone: the USS _Munificent_ , NCC-5483940-C. _Where have I seen that before?_ He wondered before it finally struck home. _It's Captain Jaq's command!_

He looked at the Admiral before him, beginning to say something, but she cut him off. "Yes, we know that you have amicable relations with the Captain of this vessel. In fact, this is one of the main reasons for your selection for this mission. We believe that there is a high probability that you will succeed in persuading Captain Jaq return to Federation space. No less important, however, is that, you have been one of our most outstanding captains in recent years, and your change of command to a sovereign class last year means that you have a ship that is suitably equipped for this mission, should the need arise."

 _Me? Convince Jaq to stop doing something that he seems hell-bent on doing? There's just no way,_ he thought. Beginning to stand up, he began, "I am extremely sorry, Admirals, but-"

The Fleet Admiral cut him off once again. "I recommend that you reconsider, Captain Stone. You are the last resort that we have, short of sending a fleet after Captain Jaq to destroy his ship. In addition, we will accost you with all related commendations upon your successful return."

He promptly sat back down. "I…I will accept this mission, sirs."

"Good. The full details regarding this mission will be sent to your personal account promptly."

Captain Stone stepped out of the hustle and bustle of the transwarp beaming hub. He never liked these places, but his ship was still undergoing maintenance at the Utopia Planitia shipyards orbiting Mars, and could not beam him straight up from Earth. _Well, any old transporter can technically function as a transwarp transporter. But I'd prefer not to be beamed into some bulkhead, or into space,_ he mused. It was true. Early tests had found that the accuracy of ordinary transporters was too low to be used across long distances, thus necessitating the use of more precise equipment. The intra-Sol transwarp beaming network had been constructed a few years ago, after engineers were able to increase the reliability of transwarp transporters to the level of ordinary transporters. The network did not merely operate within the Solar system, however, for it also connected Sol to neighbouring star systems. Today, one could beam almost instantaneously between major settlements in the core worlds of the Federation. Starships were still essential, however, for though they travelled far more slowly than the network, they allowed travel outside of the network, and were the pillars of the Federation's defence.

He stepped into a shuttlepod and it took him along a programmed path towards his ship. A news feed began to play softly, filling the small interior of the shuttlepod with voices. "…supernova containment facilities around Sol have bow been completed. When they go into operation, these facilities would defend the Sol system from a supernova." He switched to another channel, which was harping on about a new sport named "interstellar soccer". The Federation Council had commissioned the construction of shield generator stations around the stars of core systems to contain the terrible energies released by the death of a star. Each station was approximately 10 kilometres long and 2 kilometres wide, and every star would have thousands of such stations orbiting it. Personally, Captain Stone felt that it was excessive, as a hundred starships could safely contain a supernova; even a single station would be overkill.

Within minutes, the slow-moving shuttlepod approached dock 11680, where his ship had just completed her routine maintenance. It was a _Sovereign_ class starship, the same class as that of the famous (or infamous, depending on who you asked) U.S.S. Enterprise-E. As his shuttlepod drew closer, the docks surrounding his ship began to come into view. He looked on in awe at a block Vb Galaxy class docked just beside his ship. These Galaxy class starships were no longer the underpowered (for their size) starships that came out of drydock in the late 2350s; they had been given the refit known colloquially as the _Defiant_ treatment _._ Most of its non-tactical facilities had been replaced with batteries, warp cores, torpedo bays, phaser capacitors and shield generators. In addition, the crew requirements were reduced drastically; from close to a thousand for the original to a mere twenty. This was only possible due to advancements in holographic and exocomp technology; as the entire ship was jam-packed with equipment, the crew relied on these tools to repair the ship (Starfleet had seen to it that they were not sentient). The entirety of the crew resided on decks 1-4, and were not expected to travel to other decks unless in the most dire of situations. This highly efficient use of space resulted in an extremely powerful ship: a block Vb Galaxy class could expect to engage and destroy 30 _Sovereign_ class starships with minimal damage; likewise for 15 _Scimitar_ class starships. An _Intrepid_ class starship given the same treatment could safely take on 3 _Sovereign_ class starships and defeat a _Scimitar_ in a duel. The reason for this sudden change in paradigm for Starfleet was clear. At the conclusion of the Dominion war, the Klingon Empire, Romulan Empire and the United Federation of Planets signed a treaty that limited the number of starships that each nation-state could field. As a result, Starfleet was attempting to refit as many starships to this new standard as possible to increase the fleet's overall tactical capabilities even as the fleet ceased to expand as quickly. However, as of yet, only 95 thousand starships had been successfully refitted. Compounding this, some of the more pacifistic elements of society were already petitioning to halt the refit programme.

Personally, he felt that far too little had been done. As the Federation grew, so too did the list of credible threats to its safety. In the past two decades, the Federation had encountered two major interstellar civilisations (if the Borg could even be considered a civilisation), both of which had almost caused its downfall. And both _continued_ to exist, with ample capability to complete the task that they had failed to accomplish previously.

He snapped out of his reverie, realising that he was already on the bridge. _I've become so used to this ship._ "Captain on the deck!" Commander Shan, a young Andorian man in his 30s called out warmly. "Welcome back, sir. The ship has been well taken care of while you were away."

"Thank you, First Officer Shan. The _Bountiful_ is like a home to me." Captain Stone chuckled. "But we have a job to do. Starfleet Command has given us a new mission. A _Nebula_ class starship has gone rogue, and our task is to persuade it to return. I'll send the mission file to your respective accounts, and we'll hold a meeting at 1230 to discuss our options." He turned back towards the turbolift, but remembered something. "Ah, and please request beta shift to relieve you. I would like everyone here to have some rest."

Once he was in the relative privacy of his quarters, the mask of confidence that he usually put on in front of his crew evaporated, and anguish replaced it with rapidity. _Dammit. What the hell were you thinking, Jaq? What can be so important that you would be willing to sacrifice your life and career? Hell, your name will be tarnished even in death! Didn't you once tell me to treasure my life when we were stuck on that planet, and I was about to lose hope? Why?_

Then he remembered how he had been so lost when he first entered the academy. His parents had been killed recently by the Dominion in their courageous defence of the _people_ that led lives in the Federation. They were Starfleet to the very end; married while serving on the same ship, perished when the ship they were serving on was ripped apart by the ruthless hands of the Dominion. Lost and filled with grief, he enrolled in Starfleet Academy the instant he was of legal age. At the time, he hated Starfleet for giving him so little time with his parents; hated it yet more for tricking his parents to give up their lives. His juvenile mind found it exceedingly ironic that he ended up joining the organisation that had killed his parents. It was then that he met Jaq, his senior at the academy. Jaq showed him that being part of Starfleet was a way of life, and exposed him to the wonders; the sense of discovery that had drawn in his parents. He realised, then, that his parents had willingly given up their lives during the Dominion War; they had done so to allow people after them, people like _him_ , to experience the things that they had. Jaq was always supporting him, urging him to look forward and go on; he was the person that the young Stone needed to push him towards the future.

 _I have to convince him, somehow. I cannot allow him to throw away his life._ With newfound determination, he said, "Computer, contact the USS Munificent, NCC-5483940-C." A nervous-looking woman appeared on his holodisplay. "Please wait a moment, we have to verify something." After a few moments, her expression relaxed noticeably, and she spoke to someone on the other side. "It's Captain Stone!" Turning back to Stone, she said, "Please wait a moment sir, the Captain is coming to going to speak to you soon." Seconds later, the holodisplay disappeared, and a true-to-life representation of Captain Jaq materialised in his room.


	2. Chapter 2

The hologram depicted a Tellarite male of average height who possessed a short, close-cropped beard. A light smile played on his lips. Stone shook the hand of the hologram, feeling as if he were touching the actual person.

"It's been a long time since we've talked like this, Jaq," he said. It was true. Since they became captains, they had been swamped by their duties, and lacked the time to conduct a proper conversation.

"Indeed," Captain Jaq of the USS Munificent said wryly. "I remember when you used to contact me at least once a day to ask for advice."

"Ah, that was when we were posted to different ships for the first time in our careers. Besides, I only contacted you because I wanted some company," Captain Stone countered.

"Don't pretend to have amnesia all of a sudden. I clearly remember you weaselling in a few questions in the middle of almost every conversation. You would have this expectant look in your eyes whenever you asked a question," Captain Jaq smirked.

"…wow, your memory is impressive. Seems like I can never fool you," Stone admitted grudgingly.

"Just as you can't fool me about the reason for your sudden contact," Jaq said heavily.

Stone stepped back in shock. He had planned to broach the true subject of this conversation in a more tactful manner, but Jaq had just denied him the opportunity to do so. His blood turned cold at the thought of the words that he was about to unleash upon his friend and mentor. "…haha. Indeed," Stone chuckled nervously.

Jaq held up a hand. "And before you say any further, I already know what you are about to say. You have been assigned to persuade me to turn back, or destroy me if I refuse to do so."

"…that's true," Stone admitted with guilt.

"I'm sorry, old friend, but I cannot accede to Starfleet's demands. There is far too much at stake here," Jaq said.

"Why? What is cause could be so important that you would be willing to throw your life for it? I thought you once said that exploration was your life's goal?" Stone demanded.

"I have to apologise again, but I cannot tell you. Please, I know I once told you to question everything, but at times, asking the wrong questions can destroy your life. Once all this is over, you can kill me and live the rest of your life fulfilling your life's desires." Jaq pleaded.

"You think I am still a child who only cares about personal comfort and gain!?" Stone thundered. "Once, I only thought about finding out the meaning of my life, but now-"

Then he saw the expression that appeared for brief moment on Jaq's face. It was a mask of sheer sorrow and desperation. Jaq quickly schooled it back to its usual expression, but it was enough. Stone had never seen him look so helpless, even when they were about to be executed by the Algosians based on falsified murder charges. No matter the situation, Jaq always maintained his confidence, and looked forward to the future with shining eyes. The fact that Jaq had even allowed such an expression to manifest told him that the situation was extremely severe.

"…alright, I…I will not question you further."


	3. Chapter 3

"Thank you. You don't know how much I appreciate your decision," Jaq said gravely.

"I couldn't bear to refuse after seeing the expression you made," Stone said, attempting to diffuse the heavy mood. For a moment, Jaq's expression flickered slightly, and Stone hastily added, "of course, I couldn't do that to a friend in such dire times."

Jaq chuckled heartily, "I don't remember you having that kind of loyalty when we were in marooned in the caves of Hindar. I correctly decided to leave the caves and take our chances outside, while you insisted on staying put in those structurally unsound holes. Didn't we see those caves that you were so confident in collapse just minutes after we left them?"

"Look, I was young at the time. I was just not as experienced," Stone said somewhat defensively.

Jaq attacked once again. "Old habits sometimes take a long time to change," he said cryptically. "And this wasn't the only instance…"

In this way, the two comrades in life recounted the times when all hope appeared to be lost; the times when things went smoothly; even the times when they were so bored that even counting from one to ten would be a substantial improvement (for every moment, no matter how small or insignificant at the time of their occurence, can become a source of nostalgia and wistful joy to those who believe themselves to be on the verge of losing the things they hold dear). Both were eager to forget the harsh reality; forced smiles played at their lips and overzealous laughs filled their throats. In their minds, mere minutes passed; but by the time Stone looked at the time, he discovered that he only had five minutes to get back on duty.

"I apologise, but I have to return to duty." _Duty to kill you_ , he thought wryly.

"Huh? Ah, that's right. I won't hold you back any longer. I guess we'll be meeting again soon ," Jaq said, all pretense at cheer gone.

As he was exiting his quarters, Stone turned back as he said, "Thank you for the enjoyable conversation." But Jaq was gone.


	4. Chapter 4

When he entered the observation lounge, the rest of his bridge crew was already waiting for him. "Thank you for your punctuality," he said politely.

"We're ready to begin, sir," Commander Shan said confidently.

"Please proceed," Stone replied.

The Tactical Officer, a brown-haired human in her early thirties, called up a holographic representation of the U.S.S. Munificent which floated in the middle of the conference table. "Refitted in 2389, the _Munificent_ is a Block IV Nebula class starship, designed to counter the Borg. When Starfleet realised that mere brute force alone was insufficient to counter the Borg, they began to refit certain classes of ships to act as the sensors of a fleet, able to discern the weak points of a Borg vessel." Zooming in on the triangular structure located above and behind the ship, she continued, "The _Munificent_ is a thoroughbred; it mounts a mission pod that grants it greatly-improved sensor capabilities, while increasing its torpedo payload from 1000 to 1600 and its torpedo tube count from 3 to 16 at the same time. This allows it to have tremendous burst fire capability and torpedo range. In all, I would say that it is a good match for our ship in an engagement."

Captain Stone was curious about her last point. "Lieutenant Lee, do we have any advantages over the _Munificent,_ such that we would be able to match it tactically?"

"Yes. Our shields and phasers are more powerful than the _Munificent's._ In addition, we can travel faster at warp," she replied.

"I see. So our best bet would be to get in close to use our phasers?" Stone inquired.

"That's correct."

Chief Engineer Lieutenant Commander Tessock, a Vulcan man in his mid-30s interjected, "According to my calculations, we would be able to travel 32.3% faster than the _Munificent_ at warp, so we would be able to cover 103.2 light years more than them every hour at maximum sustainable warp. In addition, our warp core has a peak output that is 204.5% that of the _Munificent's,_ so our phasers are around 35% more powerful than the _Munificent's,_ and our shield regeneration rate is 96% faster. Lastly, our shield capacity is 250% that of the _Munificent's._ "

Commander Shan added, "despite these advantages, the longer torpedo range possessed by the _Munificent_ presents such an overwhelming advantage that we are only on par with them in most combat situations. I have run billions of simulations, and the _Bountiful_ only managed to disable the _Munificent_ in around half of the scenarios. I have also found that _the Munificent_ would be able to destroy the _Bountiful_ without incurring any damage if we begin the engagement at too long a range. We can disable the _Munificent_ most of the time when the engagement begins within our torpedo range, but we will sustain catastrophic damage, possibly even a warp core breach. However, within phaser range, we will be able to disable the _Munificent_ with minimal damage most of the time."

The Chief Medical Officer, a Betazoid named Dr Temum Aroi, said, "In light of the potential casualties that will occur if an engagement occurs, I would like to request for the entirety of deck 7 to be converted into a temporary sickbay. If possible, it would also be best for area surrounding the secondary sickbay on deck 16 to be allocated for medical use."

Stone nodded. "It would be a good idea to do so. Permission granted." He looked towards the ship's counselor, who had been silent throughout the meeting. "Commander Reg, do you have any findings to present?"

The Bolian man said somewhat nervously, "I do, sir." He shifted in his seat, and said, "Sir, I believe that you have a rather close relationship with Captain Jaq, so my psychological analysis would surely be inadequate in comparison with your understanding of him. However, for the benefit of the rest of the bridge crew, may I?"

Stone replied, "Please do. Besides, I may also learn something new about Captain Jaq from the analysis of a professional."


	5. Chapter 5

With more confidence this time, Commander Reg began, "Captain Jaq entered Starfleet Academy in 2380 at the age of 22. There, he achieved commendable results, excelling at all subjects. Instructors described him as "brilliant", "determined", and "resourceful". In 2383, after skipping a level, he proceeded to graduate with the second-highest combined score in his year. He was then assigned to the U.S.S. Sacramento, NCC-3678076-C. There, he served with distinction, and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in 2385. In 2386, Captain Stone, then an Ensign, junior grade-" Reg glanced at Stone "-was assigned to the same ship. Over the next six years, Jaq continued to serve with distinction, saving the crew on numerous occasions, and using his wit and guile to beat seemingly impossible odds. By 2391, he was the first officer of the Sacramento, with then Lieutenant Commander Stone as the second officer. He was then given command of the U.S.S. Munificent in 2392."

Reg paused to take a sip of Vulcan tea, and continued to speak. "From the information available, I feel that Captain Jaq is a highly intelligent individual who performs major acts with deliberation, and has clear aims when performing such an act. He is also extremely determined to achieve the goals that he has set for himself. We also know that he has a highly successful career, and thus has a lot to lose by going rogue. This suggests that Jaq has an aim in mind which is extremely important to him, such that he is even willing to abandon his reputation, career and potentially his life to achieve it. As it stands, the best method to persuade him to return to Starfleet is to convince him that his current plan would not succeed, or that his goals are not as important as he thought. Both would require knowledge on his plans and aims, though."

Stone gave an inward sigh. _I already tried to learn more._ On the outside, he said, "Thank you for your analysis, Commander Reg. I'll take your analysis into consideration. Does anyone have anything more to say?"

One by one, his senior staff signalled that they had nothing left to contribute. Stone continued, "This meeting is adjourned."

Alpha shift filed into the bridge, and took their stations. Stone settled into the Captain's chair, noting how comfortable he felt in this position. _One year does make a whole world of difference._ The helm officer, a Caitan ensign in his 20s, informed him, "Captain, we are currently on a heading that would take us to the Munificent in the shortest possible time."

Stone was impressed by the ensign's initiative. "Excellent, Ensign K'Troaw." With that, everyone settled into their daily routine of scanning through reports.

Halfway through the 8-hour long duty shift, Lieutenant Commander Tessock called in from Engineering to speak about his upgrades to the temporal acceleration Field, or TA field for short. "Sir, I would ordinarily have put this in a report, but I believe that the

se upgrades may be relevant to our current mission."

"Please go on."

"I have installed TA field emitters around our main computer core. Usually, temporal acceleration fields do not work on computers due to the fact that they use subspace to transfer information between components, but I believe that I have found a way to extend the field into subspace. If my theories are correct , our main computer core would become approximately 3.87 billion times more powerful to an external observer whenever the TA field is engaged. I have not run tests on the setup yet as we are currently on a critical mission, but this may be an important advantage if the setup is operational."

"Indeed, this would be a great boon to Starfleet." Stone said thoughtfully. TA fields could increase the passage of time within their field of influence by billions times. After scientists discovered how to create TA fields, Starfleet had rapidly seen to it that field emitters were installed on the critical areas of its ships, such as the bridge and engineering. With the advent of the TA field, the crew of a ship could react to changing situations within nanoseconds, thus removing the element of surprise from most battles. Cloaked alpha strikes were instantly rendered obsolete, as a Federation starship could raise its shields and retaliate before the decloaking attacker could even fire the first shot. Starships could go from "cold" status to red alert in less than a microsecond, and a warp core within a high flux TA field could now produce more energy in one second than the entire Federation fleet could in a year. Two remaining limitations were fuel and the thermal design power of components outside the influence of the TA field. Still, it effectively allowed starships to fire beams of energy that would have been considered to be overloaded before the advent of the TA field. Another bottleneck was the computer core that oversaw most functions on a starship. Due to their exotic nature, they were not influenced by current TA fields. As such, the reaction time of a starship could only go as low as that of its computer cores. If successful, Tessock's theories would be one of the major breakthroughs of the century.

After a few more uneventful hours, Beta shift relieved Alpha shift. Feeling unusually tired, Stone retired to his quarters once more.


	6. Chapter 6

Captain Stone awoke with a start, his entire body drenched in perspiration. _Strange_ , he thought. _My clothes should have absorbed the sweat, and returned it to the ship for recycling. Ah well. It must be a malfunction. I'll ask the systems specialists about it after this mission is over._

As he removed his off-duty clothes, the salty smell of perspiration lingered in the air. _Looks like it's my lucky day. First I discover that my clothes have malfunctioned, then I find out that the air conditioning system is acting up too._

Having showered and changed, he emerged from his quarters into the corridor. Here, a somewhat musky scent prevailed. _Hmm, it's a system-wide error. Looks like the engineers at Utopia Planitia didn't do such a good job._ He chuckled to himself. _Ah, shift Alpha is starting soon. I better not be late._ He quickened his pace.


	7. Chapter 7

As the aft view of the _Munificent_ appeared on the viewscreen, the atmosphere on the bridge darkened.

Lieutenant Lee called out, "The _Munificent_ is 33.7 light years from us, sir."

"Send a message to the _Munificent_. Tell them that we would be forced to engage if they continue on their current course," Stone said heavily.

The comm officer, Lieutenant Harris, said, "They have replied, sir. Their message says 'We apologise, U.S.S. _Bountiful_ , but we are unable to accede to your request.'"

"Close in to 33 light years and commence long-range engagement," Captain Stone said with regret.

The bridge crew responded with efficiency, casting nary a questioning glance toward the captain. For they knew why the captain had said so. The _Munificent's_ superior sensors allowed it to hit targets up to 46 light years away with its torpedoes, while the Bountiful was limited to 33 light years. Power surged into the warp nacelles, and the _Bountiful_ accelerated to maximum warp.

As the _Bountiful_ pursued its quarry at high warp, the _Munificent_ pushed its drives to their limit, in a bid to prolong the time before the _Bountiful_ caught up. It fired a trickle of quantum torpedoes towards the _Bountiful_ , attempting to discourage its fellow starship from keeping up the chase. But with contemporary regenerative shielding, this was but a piddling show of force; it was not even sufficient to overwhelm the regenerative capabilities of the _Bountiful's_ fore shields. And surely Jaq knew that. Perhaps he retained some sympathies towards the Federation, and was loath to engage a fellow Federation starship. Seeing no reason to change his mindset for the time being, Captain Stone was happy to let his ship be a punching bag. For the moment.


	8. Chapter 8

The _Bountiful_ gained on the _Munificent_ rapidly. Wth its superior warp capabilities, it covered the 33 light year distance between them in less than an hour. As the _Bountiful_ caught up, the _Munificent_ exited warp, right at the edge of a star system. 10 billion kilometres behind, the _Bountiful_ mirrored its actions.

"General analysis?" Captain Stone said coldly, his mind already in combat mode.

"The star system contains a blue hypergiant, sir. There are 6 planets in the system, and none have a habitable surface. The third planet is approximately 150 million kilometres from the sun. There are life-signs on the planet, but they are below the surface. The ones closest to the surface are 10km underground, but the deepest ones I can detect are up to 20km below ground. Apparently, there is extensive development," the helm officer replied.

"Strange, the official records tell us that this system is uninhabited due to the intense radiation emitted by the star. The last survey of this system was quite recent; only six years ago."

"How is that possible? If our sensors can detect the life-signs so easily, surely the the planetary survey fleet can do better."

"Unknown, sir."

"If you don't mind, Captain, I suggest that we focus on the more pressing issue," Commander Shan interjected.

"Indeed," Stone replied.


	9. Chapter 9

The two ships had a deep bond: the hunter, and the hunted. The Munificent plowed through a thick asteroid field at .95c, smashing the asteroids in its path into microscopic particles. The Bountiful did likewise in pursuit of its prey. Both were like angry gods who were too deeply focused upon one another to care for their surroundings. Starfleet regulations usually limited ships to .25c in normal situations to avoid relativistic effects when communicating with other ships. (even in this age, Einstein still had a part to play). But this was hardly a normal situation. Besides, both ships had little need to communicate (the Munificent, even less so).

"How many torpedoes will it take to bring down one of their shield facings?" Stone inquired of the tactical officer.

Inserting some values into her console, she replied, "About twenty-nine. The twenty ninth one has to be reduced in yield, though."

"Please prepare the torpedoes and make the necessary adjustments. I also want an additional torpedo that has just enough power to damage their ship. By the way, do this for two shield facings."

"The torpedoes have been prepared, sir."

"Good, launch the torpedoes at warp, and have them trail the Munificent until all the torpedoes have been launched. Then have 58 of them impact its shields simultaneously, split between the port and starboard last two torpedoes should hit them just after the others. Target non-essential areas."

The captain wanted to deploy just enough firepower to deal some damage to the Munificent, just enough to warn the other captain that he was stepping past the line, but not enough to cripple or destroy his ship. Now that they were at a knife-fighting range, the Munificent's advantages had been nullified, and that gave Captain Stone some leeway to be more magnanimous with his opponent.

Quantum torpedoes shot out from the Bountiful's launchers, and passed through the warp field generated by their mothership. Although they did not have a warp drive to generate a warp field, they were able to sustain a warp field, and could even vary their warp factor. 60 of them lined up in subspace and accelerated towards the Munificent.

With this, Captain Stone presented a dilemma to his counterpart: go to warp, and try to shoot down the torpedoes he had positioned behind it, or continue his current course, and attempt to bear the brunt of the assault. The first option gave the Munificent a fraction of a second to target and take out 60 heavily shielded torpedoes, and in the process lose precious energy by jumping to warp; the second option almost certainly lead to significant damage for the Munificent. The Munificent decided that expending energy to have a chance at destroying a few torpedoes was not worth the effort, and continued on its present course.

Ahead, the Munificent transferred power to its fore and aft shields, anticipating an attack from the rear or the front. Then 60 quantum torpedoes exited warp on its port and starboard; 30 on either side, slamming into the its port and starboard shields simultaneously at .997c. The Munificent attempted to reinforce both weakened shield arcs, but they collapsed by the time the 29th torpedo struck home. The 30th torpedo smashed into bare hull, blowing massive craters in both sides of the Munificent's Saucer section. Surprised by the unexpected attack vector, the Munificent engaged in evasive manoeuvres, attempting to present a stronger shield facing to its opponent.


	10. Chapter 10

"Take us into knife-fighting range." Captain Stone ordered. With the advent of warp-capable torpedoes, energy weapons had effectively been rendered obsolete except in niche situations. In one of these circumstances, both parties in an engagement ran out of torpedoes, and were thus forced to engage at close range. Modern phasers could hit a moving opponent reliably from a distance of four and a half billion kilometres. This was known as "knife-fighting range" in Starfleet doctrine. Technically, phasers could travel up to 750 billion kilometres before dissipating; allowing starships to hit a stationary object in the middle of a star system from the Oort Cloud. However, active sensor jamming and evasive manoeuvres (controlled by programs designed to throw off targeting in the most efficient manner possible) greatly reduced the accuracy of energy weapons at longer ranges.

Ahead, the Munificent made a short warp hop to the hypergiant, and retreated behind the star. Eager to re-engage, the Bountiful pursued. As the Bountiful attempted to go around to star to fire at the Munificent, however, the Munificent deftly shifted it's position, placing the star between the two ships once again.

Not good. Starfleet regulations forbid us from firing upon stars unless there is an alpha class emergency. Jaq may be buying time to prepare a trap for us, Stone mused.

Apparently, this very situation was the trap that Captain Jaq had envisioned. With no qualms about violating Starfleet regulations, the Munificent exacted its revenge against the Bountiful. Phasers stabbed through the heart of the massive star, burrowing massive tunnels. Then torpedoes flew through the tunnels at high warp, clearing the 70 million kilometre diameter of the star within microseconds. Each of these torpedoes then unleashed enough energy to vaporise an M-class planet many times over on the hapless Bountiful.

The bridge shook as the inertial dampers failed to fully compensate for the terrible energies that besieged the Bountiful.

Damn! This whole chase was a setup from the start. Stone cursed.

Captain Jaq wanted to ensure that he would emerge victorious from this engagement. In doing so, he had carefully planned a route that would have allowed the Bountiful to catch up with his ship just as they entered this system

"Port shields at 91%, sir. Minor thermal damage to armour on decks 10 and 13."

On the viewscreen, the Munificent was preparing to fire a second volley of torpedoes. But Captain Stone had an idea.

This engagement was reminiscent of the Battle of Canis Majoris. The Battle of Canis Majoris was a fleet action undertaken by the Federation at the dawn of the Dominion war. At a time when it had just become clear that the Dominion had hostile intentions, Starfleet Command dispatched an element of the 12th Fleet, a whole twenty thousand ships, against a Dominion fleet of ten thousand which had amassed near the border system of Canis Majoris. Canis Majoris was home to a pre-warp civilisation that had just begun to probe outside its solar system with slower-than-light sleeper ships. The Federation Diplomatic Corps were unwilling to pass up a chance to to initiate First Contact with this unique civilisation that had somehow managed to evolve around a hypergiant. The general consensus in Starfleet Command and the rest of the Federation was also that the Federation would be partly responsible if the the Dominion laid waste to this civilisation. These two factors spurred Starfleet to dispatch a fleet to an otherwise insignificant system (with a diameter of almost 2 billion kilometres, the star was huge, though). Confident in its fleet's tactical superiority, Starfleet Command dispatched a relatively junior member of the brass to command the fleet. Commodore Brokh, a Bolian in his late 40s, was better known for his paper-pushing and idealism than for his tactical prowess. Someone had apparently disliked him sufficiently to make him take command of a fleet for the first time in such a pivotal engagement.

Once the Dominion fleet was determined to have malignant intentions, the Battle of Canis Majoris began. The Dominion rapidly retreated behind the super giant Canis Majoris, out of the Federation fleet's line of fire. Commodore Brokh decided, somewhat foolishly, to gather his fleet into a tight formation 20 million kilometres across, and pursue the Dominion fleet. With both fleets orbiting opposite ends of the star, the chase began. Every time the Federation fleet attempted to move around the star to fire at the Dominion fleet, the Dominion fleet performed an opposing motion that put it out of the federation fleet's line of sight once again. 3 minutes after the battle began, however, massive boreholes appeared in the star, and through these holes came polaron beams and torpedoes of an unknown nature. The Dominion had punctured holes in the star that were large enough for their weaponry to pass through! The star's internal pressure ensured that these boreholes closed within seconds, but it was enough. The Federation fleet was being pummelled, with no way to return the favour. At least, not if they wanted the local civilisation to survive. With each successive borehole, the intricately-balanced workings of the star were destabilised little by little. If this went on, the star would eventually go supernova. The fleet had been deployed to this system to protect the local civilisation. Being a hopeless idealist, Brokh ordered the fleet to stabilise the star.

In this regard, the fleet was exceedingly successful. By projecting gravity fields into the star in a calculated fashion, the fleet managed to slow down the star's demise significantly, even while they were under intense fire from the dominion.

And the fact that they were under fire was the problem. While the Federation starships expended precious energy to defend the star, the Dominion fleet was hungrily picking apart the Federation fleet, one ship at a time. At the conclusion of the battle, a mere 2073 ships survived; these were the ships whose captains saw through Brokh's folly, and broke formation as the main fleet succumbed to Dominion weaponry, and attempted to circle around the star to flank the Dominion fleet. But they were simply not enough. The Dominion annihilated the main fleet, and turned on its remnants. With no hope of achieving any of their goals, the remnants fled with their tails between their legs. The fate of the civilisation they were defending was a foregone conclusion.

In some ways, Brokh's death signified the demise of an era, an era when the Federation was so secure in its power and complacent with its position that it sought to go beyond self-preservation, and live by higher ideals.


	11. Chapter 11

**Confederation colony, Delta Volanis III (spatial and temporal units have been converted to Federation Standard)**

When these enigmatic Outsiders had first appeared in the Confederation, they caused great fear among the populace. And with good reason. These outsiders fought great battles among themselves, wreaking havoc in the 200 star systems that made up the Confederation that had been unheard of since the Great Cataclysm. And that was not even _real_. Most in the Confederation had heard of the Great Cataclysm, but no one actually knew what it was. Some said that it was, perhaps, a nuclear war in their distant past. Others, especially those conspiracy theorists, said that it was something that had occurred quite recently, but had been covered up by the government.

Most of the ships orbiting the planet had left, packed with evacuees. A handful of ships remained, determined to do their part in the planet's defence. Lacking the means to get off- world, most of the less affluent were trapped in the sprawling underground cities that spanned the planet.

She sighed. They had to abandon all their efforts; all the cities that they had built within this planet. The closest they had come to doing so was when they had been forced to abandon the life-trees on the surface, and move underground when the Light entered a new stage in its life cycle, causing it to expand and increase its energy output. That was two hundred years ago.

From her vantage point in the operations room, the senior Creator observed the installation of the final 700m tall shield emitter in an artificial cave, which was part of a planetary shield grid designed to defend the planet should the need arise. Headquarters had told them to accelerate the installation 2 months ago, as Outsider activity had increased close to this region of space. By sheer fortune (or misfortune), they were about to finish just as two Outsider starships entered the system, and began to engage one another. The young Creator had told her that the shields were enough to "defend us against anything the universe throws at us", but she wasn't convinced. Sure, these shields could defend the planet against a moon-sized object approaching at relativistic speeds. And she was proud that her people had developed these shields within such a short timeframe. But she knew that nothing they could do was enough against these mysterious outsiders. She remembered what had happened ten years in the past as clearly as day. She was a leader of a team of creators, eager to be a pioneer of real-time long-range communication. Her team had set up an audiovisual communication link between this planet and another Confederation colony 200 light years away. As part of a stress test, they had been in communication with the team on the other end for a consecutive 100 hours. All of a sudden, the camera shook, and the delicate communication link was disconnected. Her team assumed that it was merely a technical error, and attempted to re-establish a link, to no avail. When the survivors of the incident fled to other Confederation worlds, they learned the tragic truth: the colony had been destroyed. These survivors had been off-world at the time, and managed to observe the events that transpired. Apparently, two massive Outsider fleets had suddenly appeared at opposing ends of the star system, and engaged one another right after. A purple-coloured beam from one of the Outsider ships had cleaved the planet in half while tracking another Outsider ship. Although gravity should have pulled both halves back together, the Outsider weapon had heated the insides of the planet to such a degree that the interior of the planet had become superheated gas, turning the inner surfaces of both halves into massive propulsion drives that propelled the two halves apart. The senior creator didn't know if she should have been relieved that the Outsiders did not actually intend to destroy the planet, which reduced the chances of such an incident occurring again, or appalled at the notion that they had so casually destroyed a planet.


	12. Chapter 12

**U.S.S. Bountiful**

On the bridge, the events outside slowed as the temporal acceleration fields kicked in. For every second that passed by on the bridge, only three nanoseconds passed by outside. On the viewscreen, the bridge crew could see torpedoes moving in slow motion towards them, even though they were travelling at near-c speeds.

""Can we fire through the tunnels made by the _Munificent_? _"_ Stone asked.

"Negative, sir. The time interval is too short, and their firing pattern is too random for us to predict," the tactical officer replied.

This presented a significant hurdle. According to Section 148 of the Second Khitomer Accords, signed by the United Federation of Planets, the Klingon Empire and the Romulan Empire, "firing directly upon any natural celestial body large enough to be approximately spherical due to its gravity with a device intended for offensive use" was banned. Due to the potency of contemporary weaponry, all three interstellar nations had recognised the importance of preserving the natural space environment for future generations. In effect, it also prevented the use of orbital bombardment, excepting situations where the shields of a celestial body were still up (as the weapon discharge would not make direct contact with the celestial body itself).

Therefore, should Captain Stone order the firing of torpedoes through the tunnels created by the _Munificent_ , and should these torpedoes come into contact with the interior of the star, he would be violating the most important interstellar treaty in half the galaxy. The sensor logs would bare the truth to all, and he, together with his command staff would face court martial…or something much worse. Actually, he didn't really mind being court martialled, but he couldn't jeopardize the careers of his command staff in good faith.

They had one option left. And it was almost as dangerous as the first.


	13. Chapter 13

"Mr Tessock, is your experimental setup ready to run?" Stone inquired.

"I can set it up within the next five minutes, sir. In-ship time," Tessock replied.

"Thank you, that will be good enough."

"However, I do not recommend this course of action. There is a 3.67% chance that a temporal causality loop will be created, trapping us inside an independent fragment of time," the Chief Engineer cautioned.

Herein lay the problem. Federation scientists were thus far unable to encase computers within a temporal acceleration field without causing a feedback loop. In fact, one of the core aims of Tessock's experiment was to _reduce the risk_ _of a feedback loop occurring_.

Knowing about this on an intellectual level was frightening enough, but hearing about it from the person who designed the system was on a whole other level. Stone suppressed the profound urge to stand up and flee, and asked the Tactical Officer coolly, "Ms Lee, would the reduction in computing latency be enough?"

Entering some values into her console, Lee replied confidently, "Aye, sir." From his vantage point though, Stone could see that she was tapping her foot nervously.

In accordance with Starfleet protocol, Stone tapped his console, and made an announcement to the entire crew.

"This is your captain speaking. In a few minutes' time, an experimental device on this ship will be activated, which will allow us to have a chance at survival in this engagement. Unfortunately, there is a 3.67% chance that this activation would trap the _Bountiful_ within a temporal causality loop. In light of this, the ship is now at red alert level 2. I repeat, red alert level 2. Nonessential crew members are advised to evacuate the ship. Please maintain order during the evacuation procedure."

Stone tapped the console again, activating the escape pods placed in strategic locations around the ship.

"None of them are moving from their stations, sir." Shan forebodingly.

"What? Is the PA system operational?" Stone asked in fear. _If it's not, and this ship gets sucked into the loop, I'll doom 863 people to living out a part of their lives over and over again._

"The diagnostics report that there is nothing wrong with the system," Shan answered bemusedly.

All of a sudden, messages began to flood into Stone's console. He opened one of them, and read it aloud.

"This message was from Crewman Anders. It reads: Captain, we are proud to have served with you. You have been like family to us, and have done many good things for us, even though you never seek acknowledgement. Please, allow us to do you a favour in return this time."

"This one was from Chief Petty Officer Vito Sh'rekron. It reads: Captain, you are among the most honourable people I have ever met. During the Tau Ceti incident, I witnessed your profound pride as a warrior. I would willingly sacrifice my life for a person such as you. Please do us proud, sir."

There were hundreds of these messages.

"Why? Why do you put so much trust in me?" Stone whispered. Then he felt a steady hand on his shoulder.

"Captain, I too have witnessed the lengths you will go to for the sake of your crew. It is perhaps because of this, that many of them are willing to make this sacrifice in this time of need. No matter the outcome of this ill-fated battle, you have done everything you could, sir. And we thank you for that," Shan's mouth was set in a grim line, but his eyes were smiling.

"…I see. Thank you," Stone said quietly.


End file.
